We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Search the:

Apply Donate Crisis Centre

Pursuing Justice in the Shadows of the Virtual: Online Gathering Spaces and Socio-Legal Research Methodology

Sara Ross, PhD candidate, Osgoode Hall Law School

Published April 19, 2018 by Technologies of Justice.

Sara Ross hosted a panel titled Pursuing Justice in the Shadows of the Virtual, which explores justice in online gathering spaces, during the Technologies of Justice Conference session Ways of Doing and Knowing Law. The session took place on January 26, 2018, at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Ross discussed communities and networks online and cultural and community settings in virtual and physical affinity spaces. She pointed out the virtual actions and correlating physical effects that can happen when online communities take action. She explained the concept of affinity spaces, and how because they are often social and community spaces their nature can be somewhat unregulated and unlicensed. She explained her study on building code vigilantism and the 'Forced Code Exposure' takedown of affinity spaces within communities. She highlighted the use of virtual and physical affinity spaces as research sites or community respite, and pointed out how vigilantism is often used to take down a space that does not align with someone's political or religious views, rather than employed as a true safety measure. She explained the need to recognize and allow for such places in terms of research, and providing citation and access in terms of virtual affinity spaces.